“So that’s it?” Sean asked, breaking the solemn silence.
“Unless one of the two of you is holding out on me,” Xander replied. “We may not be able to pick our battle on this one, but we can pick the battlefield. If we’re going to face the dragon, we need to do it as far away from civilization as possible. I won’t be responsible for killing civilians if this goes south.”
“And it will,” Jessica added morosely.
“Come on,” the Wind Warrior said, ignoring Jessica’s pessimism. “Let’s get out of this barn for starters.”
They stood and walked to Xander, who still stood by the barn doors. Xander pushed them open with little effort, seemingly oblivious to the large size and weight of them. They stepped out into the cool night air and admired the scenery one last time. The trees swayed gently in the breeze, accentuating then concealing the fiery glow in the distance. Above them, the stars glowed brightly and the long swath of the Milky Way was easily seen drifting lazily through the constellations.
“This is it,” Sean said quietly, as though his voice would carry across the still forest. “Endgame. Thunderdome. Two men, a woman, and a dragon enter, one man leaves.”
“Let’s hope not,” Xander said.
Tilting his head backward, he stared at the stars overhead. He could sense the cold sweat from both of his friends and hear their labored breathing, even without using his powers. Xander wasn’t doing any better. He thought he understood fear. He’d gone bungee jumping and skydiving. There was that moment of weightlessness where he wondered if the cord would hold or the chute would open. Invariably, of course, it had. This was different. They were entering a situation where there was no safety net. There wasn’t an instructor jumping tandem. There was no secondary chute. There was no pool of water far below into which he would fall if the bungee cord broke. If he failed, he died. Jessica died. Sean died. He was suddenly acutely aware that he, too, was drenched in a cold sweat.
“You forget how many stars there are until there aren’t any more city lights,” Jessica said breathlessly.
Sean slipped his hand in hers as he joined her, admiring the stars glistening high above them. “It’s beautiful. It’s a shame it may be the last time we ever see them.”
“It won’t be for you two,” Xander said hastily as he summoned a cushion of wind beneath him.
He hurtled skyward, leaving the ground far below. Caught by surprise, it was nearly a second before Sean began swearing loudly at him, calling Xander names and using profanity in combinations Xander wasn’t sure he’d ever heard before. He hated to leave them both. He was betraying them, breaking the promise he had only so recently made. But he was also saving their lives. Sean would hate him, of that he was sure, but he’d be able to hate him because he was still alive. If Xander made it out of this alive, he’d have to face his friends again, even though he might have just done irreparable damage to their friendships, but it was a bridge he’d cross when… if the time came.
Sean withdrew the pistol from his waistband.
“You’re not going to shoot him, are you?” Jessica asked as the shadow of Xander faded away until it was only a dark silhouette against the starry sky.
Sean clenched the weapon tightly in his hand until his knuckles turned white but shook his head. “I’m not going to say it didn’t cross my mind but no, I’m not going to shoot him.”
“Then what—”
“We’re going after him,” he said. “That jackass thinks he’s keeping us safe, but that’s only because he’s too damn stupid to realize any better. He may not realize it, but he needs us. There’s no way he’s facing the dragon on his own.”
Xander flew blindly, driven only by his desire to get as far away from civilization as possible. He cursed silently every time he passed over another farmhouse or small community. Candles and lanterns burned in windows, telling him there were people still living within the homes. He couldn’t confront the Fire Elemental so close to people; there was no telling the amount of collateral damage that would be done when three elemental forces crashed into one another.
He could feel it coming, too. The power of the dragon soaring over the Atlantic, hurrying toward him, was like a weight pressing against his chest. It was suffocating, smothering. He had felt that familiar tug in his gut whenever a Fire Warrior was using their powers nearby, but this was something far different. It wasn’t a tug, something pulling at him from within. This was Atlas, balancing the weight of the world on his shoulders. The Fire Elemental’s presence was a crushing stone being pressed down more firmly with every passing second. Worst of all, Xander knew the dragon was still hundreds of miles away. He had no idea how suffocating the force would be when they finally stood face to face.
He sped south and east; he knew the directions inherently, as though the elemental powers within him connected him to the magnetic poles of the planet. He naturally knew which way was north, just as he knew in which direction to fly. Even without his abilities, he would have known the correct path to take. The night sky glowed like the rising sun on the horizon. Paris, or at least what had once been Paris, burned brilliantly, its flames rising high enough into the air to lick the lowest hanging clouds. The smoke from the ruined city blotted the sky from one corner of Xander’s vision to the other, and the heat radiating from the destruction was like staring into the maw of hell itself. There was a chance people still lived within Paris or the surrounding suburbs, but it was doubtful. Even London, which had been in far better shape, was mostly abandoned by the time Xander and his crew arrived.
The countryside just outside Paris would be the perfect location for their showdown.
Xander’s stomach dropped at the thought. He wasn’t a fighter, no matter how much training his aunts and uncles had given him. What he lacked in fighting prowess, he had always made up for with imaginative uses of his abilities. Now, though, when he probably needed it the most, he was drawing a blank. He had created pressurized air bubbles and lightning storms, he had created a tidal wave to wash away the Fire Warriors, and he had even seen one of his uncles create a massive waterspout to conceal their floating island. Yet none of that seemed like it would do him much good against a thirty-foot-tall dragon.
Out of the dark countryside below, the burning fires were reflected off a broad, winding river. Xander dipped lower until he was skimming over the glassy water. The waterway was choked with ash, fed from hundreds of house fires further upstream. It reeked of filth and decay, as though beneath the water’s surface floated unnamed things, things Xander would rather not think about. He knew he could have used his powers to become one with the water and explore its depths, even in the dark of night and within the murky waters, but some things were better left unexplored.
Despite the filth and possible death that was carried within the river’s gentle currents, Xander managed a faint smile. The river was another connection to his powers and one more weapon he could use against the Fire Elemental when it arrived.
He followed the river downstream until Paris was barely visible on the horizon. He expected to see the Eiffel Tower rising above the cityscape, but it was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, he knew it was another marvel of the human world that had clearly been destroyed, a modern day Colossus of Rhodes. Someday, those who survived this genocide would look at the melted metal base where it had once stood and wonder its purpose, never knowing it was merely a symbol of opulence.
For the first time, Xander wondered what would survive this war, even if he managed to defeat the Fire Elemental. Would there be any famous landmarks remaining? The Statue of Liberty? The Pyramids of Giza? The Great Wall of China? The Faces of Easter Island? Had the Fire Caste already destroyed all these manmade marvels? It seemed likely. They weren’t concerned about history or cultural significance, quite the opposite. They wanted the culture and history of mankind destroyed, so that no part of humanity remained when the planet began anew.
He set down on a grassy clearing beside the choked river, the soles
of his tennis shoes sinking in the soft mud. There were trees nearby but not so many as to hinder his ability to fly. A small road passed by just within the wood line but, much like the rest of the French countryside, it had long ago been abandoned. The water called out to him, reminding him of its as of yet untapped potential. The night’s air was still but that could be changed in a minute, going from relative calm to hurricane strength winds in a matter of seconds. It was the perfect spot; at least, it was the best spot he could find. Perfect seemed like a relative concept when getting ready to face a monster that wasn’t supposed to exist to begin with.
Turning toward the west, Xander watched the horizon intently. He didn’t know how long it would be before the dragon arrived but he knew it was coming, its path unwavering as it approached its nemesis. Patience had never been Xander’s strong suit, and the thought of waiting hours for the Fire Elemental to arrive left him unnerved. He didn’t like having to think about the hundreds of different ways he could lose this fight.
“Man up,” Xander said, echoing Jessica’s previous sentiments.
He hoped his friends were safe. Whether or not they’d ever agree with his decision to leave them again so soon after returning, he knew it was for the right reasons. It was, for lack of a better phrase, him actually manning up. Sean and Jessica wanted to come with him. They were sure that they’d be useful and instrumental in this fight, but Xander didn’t agree. He didn’t need moral support and that was realistically all they’d be able to offer against a dragon. If they had come with him, he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on winning the battle, since he’d constantly have to be looking over his shoulder to ensure his friends’ safety. The Fire Elemental would have exploited that weakness the first chance it got. He knew that even if they didn’t. No, they could hate him, probably for the remainder of their lives, but there would be a “rest of their lives” because he left them back in the barn.
Sean climbed behind the wheel of the dilapidated truck, still slinging an embarrassingly long string of profanity. It hadn’t lessened since Xander abandoned them for the second time in a row, especially so soon after making a promise not to do exactly what he just did.
He reached around the steering column and swore again when he didn’t feel a set of keys in the ignition. Stepping out of the truck, he kicked its rusted exterior, ignoring the orange flakes of metal that fell from around the front wheel well. The truck had seen better days, having been left to the elements for years. The tires hadn’t gone flat, which was one positive thing, though he was sure they were dry rotted and wouldn’t hold up for long. None of that mattered, however, if he couldn’t get it running.
“What are you doing, Sean?” Jessica asked as she walked up behind him.
Her voice was calm and concerned, not the brash, abrasive woman she had just been around Xander. She slipped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his back. Her touch had an instant calming effect on Sean, even as he tensed involuntarily.
“I’m going after him,” Sean said, managing to suppress his desire to inject at least a half dozen swear words into his four-word sentence.
“Why? He made his decision.”
Sean turned, even though he made sure her arms stayed around his waist. “He made a crappy decision. He made the wrong decision.”
Jessica looked up at him, her blue eyes reflecting genuine compassion for the pain Sean was obviously feeling. “You and I both know that, but Xander wasn’t exactly wrong either. What would you and I do against a dragon?”
Sean reached up and brushed her blonde hair out of her face. His fingertips lingered over the puckered scar on her forehead. He knew the swelling would eventually go away and the scar would be mostly unnoticeable unless you were looking for it, but he still felt guilty for putting her in that predicament in the first place.
“I don’t know. I really don’t. But we could do something. I don’t want to watch the world end from a barn in France. If it’s going to end, I’m going to be in a front row seat. If the world is going to burn, I’m going to be in a lawn chair, with my feet in a kiddy pool, holding a long stick with some marshmallows.”
“Marshmallows?” she asked with a smile.
“Xander’s an idiot,” he said.
“For leaving us?”
Sean shook his head. “For ever letting you go.”
To Jessica’s surprise, she could feel a flush rising on her cheeks. “So we’re going after him?” she asked, quickly changing the subject.
Sean glanced over his shoulder to the rust bucket behind him. “You don’t happen to know how to hotwire a car, do you? It wasn’t one of those things they taught in the classes Xander and I never really paid attention in, was it?”
Jessica pulled her arms from around his waist and walked to the driver’s side of the truck. She leaned into the cab, checking the floorboard and feeling underneath the seat. Finding nothing, she straightened up and lowered the sun visor. A set of keys tumbled onto the torn leather seat with a jingle. She picked them up with a smile and shook them for Sean to see.
“He’s an idiot,” Sean said as he took the keys, “but you’re a freaking genius.”
The truck started with a cough, and a belch of black smoke out its tailpipe. With a pull of a knob on the dashboard, the headlights flickered on, illuminating the road ahead. Jessica climbed into the passenger’s seat, closing the door behind her.
“Do you know where we’re going?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Sean explained, “but I’m pretty sure it’s not going to take us long to figure it out.”
“Slow down,” Jessica demanded as she was tossed handily about in the cab of the dilapidated truck. She grabbed the dusty dashboard for support with one hand while clinging to her seatbelt with the other.
The truck struck a pothole, and both Sean and Jessica bounced out of their seats. They crashed back down hard, and Sean had to struggle to maintain a grip on the steering wheel. It may have been their only means of transportation but with a complete lack of shocks, it certainly wasn’t a very comfortable ride.
“Slow down!” Jessica said again.
“I can’t slow down,” Sean replied as he spun the wheel to avoid debris in the road. “Xander has a head start on us and is flying something crazy like six hundred miles an hour. If we don’t drive fast, we’ll never catch him.”
“We can’t drive six hundred miles an hour, especially if you kill us.”
“Maybe not, but I sure as hell can give it the old college try.”
He turned the wheel again and the truck slid into the lane of oncoming traffic, not that there were any cars on the road for them to avoid. The road was littered with trash and some rusted husks of other vehicles, but most of those had either pulled over to the shoulder before they were abandoned or had long ago been pushed aside, clearing the way.
Jessica shot Sean a sour glance as she tried to regain her balance. “You didn’t give anything the old college try when you were actually in college. I don’t know why you’d suddenly start now.”
“Hardy har har,” Sean replied sarcastically.
The road ahead cleared, leaving him little reason to weave erratically. The trip settled significantly, and Jessica finally released her death grip on her seatbelt. The inside of her palm was red from the effort of holding on.
“How do you even know we’re going the right way?” she asked.
Sean pointed out the window toward the overcast sky, as though the gesture signified something important. “He flew off in this direction.”
“Yeah, at six hundred miles an hour. He could be anywhere by now.”
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Unless you have a better idea, I’m going to keep on driving south.”
Jessica sat back in the bench seat, despite the fact that an unidentified creature had long ago eaten most of the foam. She rested her back against the cold metal core of the backrest and crossed her arms over her chest.
“We have no idea where we’re go
ing, other than we’re driving south, more or less.”
Sean nodded and pointed at a road sign that they passed. “We’re heading toward Paris. The sign says so.”
“How much further?”
Sean shrugged. “No idea, it was in kilometers. I don’t really translate all that well between metric and… whatever the American system is called.”
“I can do the math; just tell me how many kilometers it said.”
“No idea. I didn’t really pay much attention, because I don’t do the math. It didn’t seem all that important at the time.”
Jessica sighed. “Then what’s the plan once we get past Paris?”
Sean turned the wheel and drove over the median, avoiding an overturned caravan blocking the southbound lane. The truck bounced wildly as it rode over the curb before dropping back down on the other side.
“We’ll read the next mileage sign… kilometerage sign? Is that a word? Anyway, whatever, we’ll read the next sign and figure it all out then.”
“You could just pull over somewhere, and we could find a map. I’m fairly positive that of everything that’s been looted, country road maps weren’t high on people’s lists.”
“I don’t need a map.”
“Oh my God, you are such a guy,” Jessica complained. “Is it just some innate male thing, because you’re definitely not the testosterone-filled macho guy who normally won’t stop and ask for directions?”
Sean turned his head slowly, staring at the blonde woman incredulously. “How did you fit so many asinine insults into two sentences?”
Jessica huffed and leaned back in her seat, staring out the dirt-caked window. Sean looked at her a second longer before turning his attention back to the road. He couldn’t help but think of all the times he had teased Xander when he dated Jessica, about how nagging and annoying she could be. Apparently, those life lessons were quickly forgotten when the cute girl suddenly showed an interest in the chubby friend instead.
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